Desi News Corp - Index

Desi News Corp - Desi News - May 2009 - Index

NARI MAVALWALLA/DESI NEWS
ajpat Rai Bahl, 67, aka Ravi Bahl,
came to Canada 30 years ago and
Lthe
ran a health food store until he sold
business last year. Now retired, he lives
with his wife Kamlesh, and says we should
first understand that the financial crisis is
a two-pronged issue.
“We are in this rut that we need to climb
out of and we need to plan for and secure
the future.”
During India’s Partition, Bahl was just
a little boy, but remembers clearly how resources
were stretched to the limit.
They lived in Najibabad in Uttar Pradesh
where his father was a government
employee on a modest salary. But it never
occurred to him to turn family away when
they came to his door, seeking refuge.
More than a 100 distant relatives showed
up over a period of time, leaving behind
everything in Pakistan and often escaping
with just their lives, recalls Bahl.
“All of us had to learn to make do with
less. Sugar was rationed, so were kerosene,
and dals, etc. The ladies would take stock
of what was available and decide what
would be cooked that day. If you got ek
kadchi dal (one ladle of dal), you got the
one kadchi, there were no second helpings.”
After the Partition, India was dependant
on aid to feed the hungry. The US donated
large quantities of PL-480, a dark red
wheat that the wealthy would not consume,
says Bahl, but which went a long way towards
alleviating hunger among the poor.
In return, India had to pay the equivalent
price in Indian currency to the US embassy
in India to be spent in India. It was generally
held that the funds were used to muster
support for the US, says Bahl.
After Jawaharlal Nehru’s death, his
successor, Lal Bahadur Shastri, made it
clear he was not going to toe the US line.
The US withdrew the PL-480.
The pressure was immense, as millions
faced imminent hunger.
“Shastri stood firm,” says Bahl, the pride
in his voice evident even today. “He went
on national radio and gave a clarion call to
Indians. ‘My countrymen, it’s a question
of honour,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to see a
single person die of hunger. All of you
make a pledge to me to forego one meal a
week.’”
This appeal received an enthusiastic response.
Restaurants closed on Monday
evenings and the young were so charged
that they forced their parents not to cook
one meal a week. Shastri fostered a green